ERNESTO ZEDILLOFormer President of Mexico (1994 - 2000), and Director, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization

Envision India in the year 2050. In 2007, the sixtieth anniversary year of an independent India, we posed this question to a distinguished panel of thought leaders to imagine the opportunities and the challenges ahead for India to realize its immense promise and capacity to become a global force.

Rising India is a study in contrasts. India's assets are unparalleled. It is the largest and fastest growing free market democracy in the world. It has well-developed democratic institutions, an independent judiciary, a free and independent media, and a robust civil society. A middle class of more than 400 million citizens is driving demand, competition and productivity as never before in India's history. India's youthfulness-with more than 350 million of its citizens under age of fifteen-will ensure that its workforce will expand for decades.

The problems that India must face and overcome to achieve its potential are equally daunting, and threaten to diminish its aspirations. More than one-third of the world's chronically malnourished children live in India, and average life expectancy and literacy trail those of many other developing countries. A large proportion of India's population (more than 750 million of its 1.1 billion people) live in its rural villages and do not have access to healthcare and capable primary education. Widespread environmental degradation, inadequate access to clean water, and inconsistent enforcement of environmental standards affect not only India but global environmental quality. The HIV-AIDS epidemic could disrupt India's advancement.

We have asked the panel to engage in a conversation that considers:

what India must do to leverage its advantages to continue to meet its promise;

what India can do to capitalize on its social and economic gains to more equitably address the disparities faced by its population;

what failures could prevent India from fulfilling its ambitions;

and most of all, to share their imagination and vision of India in 2050.

For additional information or to request invitations to the event, please contact George Joseph, Office of International Affairs, Yale University, at india@yale.edu.